Question

How is the process of acculturation different from the act of conformity? Provide an example.

Answer 1

Acculturation is the process of social, psychological, and cultural change that stems from blending between cultures. The effects of acculturation can be seen at multiple levels in both the original (native) and newly adopted (host) cultures.

Conformity is the most common and pervasive form of social influence. It is informally defined as the tendency to act or think like members of a group. In psychology, conformity is defined as the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms.

Acculturation is a process of social change where the individual accepts the another culture to grow further whereas conformity is a psychologically conforming to the norms. Acculturation process is conscious process whereas conformity is the unconscious process.

For example- An Indian shifting from India to America would acculturate to the culture of America and would readily accept the new culture but conformity would mean if he without knowing the reason, conform to the norms.